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Pictures + Gadgets= Digital PhotographyCamera D70 Lens 55-200mmDenali from 50 miles

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Camera Equipment Bodies

▪ Nikon D70

▪ Nikon D300

Lenses▪ AFS Micro 60mm f/2.8

▪ AFS 17-55mm f/2.8▪ AFS 18-70 f/3.5-4.5

▪ AFS VR 55-200mm f/4-5.6▪ AFS VR 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Camera D300 Lens 70-300mm

ISO 200 300.0mm f/5.6 shutter speed 1/1250

* I have protective UV filters on all my lenses

Started with Minolta X700 Film Nikon CoolPix 950 1st digital

Cameras are Nikon DX format SLR’sD70 6.1 million pixels 23.7 X 15.6 CCD sensor $1200 with 18/70mm Purchased 9/2004D300 12.3 million pixels 23.6 X 15.8 mm CMOS sensor $1574 without Lens purchased 9/2008AFS Micro 60mm $530AFS 17-55 f/2.8 $1200AFS 18-70 f/3.5/-4.5AFS 55-200mm f/4-5.6 $200AFS 70-300mm $450Vibration reduction on Telephoto’s picks up a couple f/stops when hand Turn off when using tripod

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MB-D10 Battery Pack

Flash units▪ SB 600

▪ SB 900▪ Ray Flash Ring

Remote Releases▪ Nikon MC-36▪ Opteka OP N1 wireless

Tripods▪ Manfrotto 055CXPRO3▪ 488RC4 Ball Head

▪ Quantaray QSX 9002TM

▪ SLIK Monopod

Camera D300 Lens 70-300ISO 200 300.0mm f/10 shutter speed

1/500

Battery pack allows you to shoot 8 frames per secondMake sure your tripods are sturdy enough to support your camera with it’s largest lens

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Filters▪ B&W UV-Haze Protection▪ Lee Filter Foundation Kit

▪ Multiple full, graduated, & polarizing filters

Bags▪ Think Tank Rotation 360▪ LowPro Sling 300▪ Tamrac Velocity 7x▪ LowPro Harness & Waist belt

▪ With Lens Cases

▪ Storm Jacket Camera Cover

GPS▪ Garmin etrex Legend HCx

Camera D300 Lens 60mm MicroISO 200 60.0mm f/3 shutter speed 1/200

Lee filter kit supports multiple size lenses with adaptersLowPro Sling 300 $100Think Tank 360 $279 more for expeditionMy bag selection depends on the situation I am shooting, I try to carry as little as possible if I must be mobileGPS used with software to put position data in exif expanded metadata (GeoTagging)

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Hardware Apple iMac 27 inch

quad core i7 Epson Photo R1900 Drobo Mass Storage MacBook Pro Laptop

Software Aperture 2 iPhoto PhotoLinker GPS DataColor Spyder/3

▪ Monitor/Printer Calibrator Sofortbild

▪ Tethering to PC via USB

Camera D70 Lens 55-200mmISO 200 105.0mm f/10 shutter speed 1/320

My pictures folder is 186 GBAperture 2 non destructive photo editing softwareDataColor hardware & software creates Monitor & Printer profiles to insure accurate color re creationPhotoLinker maps GPS track files to photo’s via time stamps enters Lat/Lon data into metadata

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Know your Camera Capabilities

Features

Settings Subjects Landscapes

Wildlife

Macro

Available Light

ActionCamera D70 Lens 55-200mm


I purchased a book specific to my camera to aid in understanding the capabilitiesTry to preset your camera to the type of shooting you will be doing. Ie. Low light, action, etc.Knowing subjects allow you to bring proper equipment

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Image Quality / Size JPEG

▪ Fine (1:4)

▪ Normal (1:8)

▪ Basic 1:16)

Raw (NEF) *

JPEG + Raw

Camera D300 Lens 70-300mmISO 320 300.0mm f/5.6 shutter speed

1/800

* I use Raw 99% of the time

Select largest practical quality, media storage & buffering are the issuesI use raw to allow better post processing and larger print sizes Picture size on D300 ranges from 10 to 13MBThis allows about 400 picture in a 8GB flash card in my D300, 386 on the D70 with a

2GB cardI don’t use ultra large media because I don’t want to lose thousands of picture should you lose the card or have a failure.Storage on your computer must also be considered, but the cost of disk storage has decreased over the years allowing larger portfolio’s

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Iso Metering

▪ Center – Weighted

▪ Matrix

▪ Spot

Focus▪ Spot

▪ Continuous

▪ Manual

White Balance *▪ Auto or Preset

Picture Control *

Camera D300 Lens 70-300mmISO 200 300.0mm f/7.1 shutter speed 1/640

* These settings can be adjustedin post processing if you shoot in Raw mode

Iso is sensitivity to light, higher iso introduces noise lower is better

Metering determines how the camera calculates exposureCenter weighted meters entire scene with most emphasis on centerMatrix (Default) the camera tries to intelligently determine the correct exposureSpot metering meters a 3mm central spot (good for macro shooting) & if background is much different then subjectFocus depends on the subject, continuous is best for moving objectsThe D300 has additional setting as to how the autofocus selection is madeI.e.. Single point or dynamicLow light makes autofocus more difficult for the cameraWhite Balance depends on light source Picture control i.e.. Standard, Vivid, Monochrome

White Balance and Picture control can be adjusted in post processing if you shoot in raw mode

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Exposure Method Program

▪ Many cameras have presets

i.e. Landscape, Portrait, Sports, Close Ups

Aperture Priority▪ Depth of Field

Shutter Priority▪ Stop Action

Manual▪ Low Light & Macro

* Avoid always using Program Mode

Camera D300 Lens 70-300mmISO 200 300.0mm f/5.6 shutter speed 1/640

I rarely use the program mode, 75% of my pictures are shot in Aperture priority Low Light, Macro & extreme contrast I normally use manual

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Aperture f/22 shutter speed 1/8

Aperture f/7.1 shutter speed 1/80

Different settings will give correctexposure with different results

* Take the same picture varying these settings when possible

Taken with D300 17-55mm LensUtilize these setting to get the effect you want out of your picture, Combinations of the 3Will produce different resultsAperture larger number is smaller opening but greater depth of field requires more lightIso is sensor sensitivity higher iso means more noise try to keep as low as possibleLow shutter speeds require tripods and possibly remote releases or timed release

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Proper Focus Poor focus can not be

corrected ! Exposure

▪ Some adjustment possible in post processing

Composition▪ Shooting Angles▪ Rule of 3rds▪ Fill the Frame

Experiment▪ Vary your settings

Be Patient Take as many pictures as

possible

Camera D300 Lens 70-300mmISO 200 280.0.mm f/7.1 shutter speed 1/800

Focus is the one thing that can’t be fixed in post processingComposition rule of 3rds, don’t always have subject in center of picture try different anglesWhen taking specific pictures ie. A flower fill the frameVary your camera setting when ever possibleBe patient, especially when shooting wildlife & sunrise/sunsetsTake lots of pictures

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Custom Settings▪ Preset for shooting

situations▪ i.e. Low Light, Action

Release Mode▪ Single▪ Continuous▪ Timer *▪ Live View▪ Mirror Up

Bracketing▪ Number of Exposures▪ Bracket Increments


If your camera supports custom settings use presets to apply settings for your most common uses i.e.. Landscape. Low Light, ActionRelease mode use time for taking shots from tripod to reduce camera shake if not using remote releaseBe sure to cover eyepiece if the camera is doing the meteringBracketing extremely useful in unusual lighting, landscape, and macro mode

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Image Review Focus

Highlights

Histograms▪ Very valuable tool

Under Exposed Over Exposed

Histograms are critical in determining correct exposureLearn to use them, they provide a quick way to see if your exposure settings need to be adjusted

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Always Bring Extra Batteries Storage Media Lens Cleaners

As Needed Additional Lenses External Flash Tripod Filters Remote Releases Weather Protection Flashlight


I try to bring only as much as I need for the situation

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Photolinker Program▪ Adds GPS info to

Metadata

Import to Aperture Categorize

Edit

Rate Reformat Media Camera D300 Lens 7-300mm

ISO 200 300.mm f/10 shutter speed 1/500

I use PhotoLinker with my Garmin handheld GPS to put LAT/LON data into metadata These type of programs are available for both Mac & Windows provides low cost alternative to a dedicated GPS unitBut adds an additional step to post processing

Aperture allows many adjustments especially if the pictures are in Raw mode it can save some poorly exposed pictures

After I have completed downloading my pictures I reformat my media as opposed to just deleting the pictures

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Windows Roxio Photoshow

Corel Paint Shop Windows & Mac Photoshop

Lightroom

Nikon Capture Mac Aperture

Iphoto Camera D300 Lens 70-300mmISO 200 300.mm f/9 shutter speed 1/250

* Each camera has it’s own RAW format insure your software supports your camera

Photoshop is very capable and allows for altering pictures, but is complicated & expensiveI usually just want to adjust my picturesMy suggestion is to find a non destructive program that is easy to learnEach camera has a slightly different format for RAW images insure your software supports your camera

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ITunes Photography 101 The Art of Photography Inside Aperture

Manufactures Web Sites Learning Aides

You Tube Magazines

▪ Digital Camera World▪ Popular Photography

How to BooksCamera D300 Lens 70-300mm


Many training aides are available online

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